Basic processes and trends in gaseous detectors

Almost a century after the invention of the proportional counter, a large research effort is still devoted to better understand the basic properties of gaseous detectors, and to improve their performances and reliability, particularly in view of use at the high radiation levels expected at LHC. In the first part of the lectures, after a brief introduction on underlying physical phenomena, I will review modern sophisticated computational tools, as well as some classic "back of the envelope" analytical methods, available today for estimating the general performances of gaseous detectors. In the second part, I will analyze in more detail problems specific to the use of detectors at high rates (space charge, discharges, aging), and describe the recent development of powerful and perhaps more reliable devices, particularly in the field of position-sensitive micro-pattern detectors.